Leave Will Smith Alone

December 26, 2007 by Marc Lamont Hill

will-smith.jpg

For the past few days, Will Smith has been under fire by the media and Jewish Defense League for his comments to a Scottish newspaper:

Even Hitler didn’t wake up going, ‘let me do the most evil thing I can do today.’ I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was ‘good.’

In response to Smith’s comments, the JDL has demanded an apology and publicly called for a boycott of Smith’s latest movie.

This is getting ridiculous.

In his quote, Smith accurately pointed out that people rarely view themselves as the living embodiment of evil. Instead, all of us are shaped by ideologies, traditions, and regimes of knowledge that shape who we are and how we view the world. As such, Hitler likely didn’t see himself as evil, but as an agent of what he viewed as positive social change. This doesn’t justify the massacre of Jews, it merely explains how individual identities and practices are constituted by coherent (though often deeply problematic) worldviews.

While I’m sensitive to Antisemitism — I supported the ADL’s boycott of Mel Gibson– this is going too far. Every time someone does more than call Hitler the devil incarnate, they aren’t supporting the Holocaust. Every time someone challenges the Zionist occupation of Palestine, they aren’t antisemitic. This type of thin skinned and reactionary media grandstanding on the part of the JDL does a radical disservice to the legitimate work against antisemitism that is being done around the globe.

LEAVE WILL SMITH ALONE!

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23 Comments

1. Will Smith » Leave Will Smith Alone wrote:

[...] Marc Lamont Hill wrote an interesting post today on Leave Will Smith AloneHere’s a quick excerptFor the past few days, Will Smith has been under fire by the media and Jewish Defense League for his comments to a Scottish newspaper: Even Hitler didn’t wake up going, ‘let me do the most evil thing I can do today. … [...]

December 26, 2007 @ 1:42 pm

2. tahall wrote:

I agree also. I believe the ADL are a little to sensitive. I think what is funny is that Jews were not the only people under fire with the Holocaust. I think what makes the situation even more interesting is that they attack him and he did not say anything about the Holocaust. He talked about a man and his views and sentiments. I think on a larger scale that Will is right, the man(Hitler) was a little twisted

December 26, 2007 @ 2:07 pm

3. Blaxx wrote:

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December 26, 2007 @ 2:24 pm

4. Cyn wrote:

The Jewish Defense League is not the Anti-Defamation League. They are two separate organizations. The JDL is on the SPLC’s list of watched hate groups, and the ADL has released a statement saying it’s clear that Will Smith’s remarks were not meant as any sort of praise for Hitler.

December 26, 2007 @ 6:25 pm

5. TableTopJoe wrote:

There was nothing offensive about that statement, he was absolutely right. At no point did he say that Hitler did anything right, this is ridiculous.

December 27, 2007 @ 12:44 pm

6. Regkam2 wrote:

Correction: instead of participates,it should be participants.

December 27, 2007 @ 5:43 pm

7. John wrote:

But don’t let Ken Timmerman or Rush Limbaugh choose what is best for black people.

But it is okay for Marc Hill to tell Jewish people what they should or shouldn’t take offense to?

December 27, 2007 @ 8:34 pm

8. knowledge_base wrote:

I don’t think he did that. I’m pretty sure he said he disagreed with the offensive nature of the comments. I’m not sure what your arguing here John as I’m pretty sure you don’t find the comments offensive either. They should be more offended that the Bush family fortune was made from Prescott Bush being Hitler’s banker.

December 27, 2007 @ 8:39 pm

9. Ki wrote:

I taught middle school, and I’ve seen this problem before. I believe John, the Jewish Defense League, and a lot of other Americans lack the basic skill of reading comprehension. They can read a paragraph, but can’t interpret what was written. They can’t identify the author’s viewpoint, find the main idea or draw logical conclusions. When people lack these skills, most of what you write will not get through to them in the proper sequence. Unless they are willing to work on getting better, they will continue to take things out of context and run with them.

December 27, 2007 @ 11:05 pm

10. Nubian King wrote:

Again, I don’t think Will Smith’s comments are about Hitler. Hitler is just a symbol of evil. The comments are about evil and the nature of evil. What’s wrong with trying to understand?

December 28, 2007 @ 11:34 am

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Will Smith…

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